In various industries, such as the lighting industry, it is desirable to ensure that all installed fixtures or elements of an installation, such as within a building, in a parking lot, or other area, are installed and controlled as desired. When a lighting system is activated, it is tested and the controls for the system are programmed and calibrated to ensure proper operation. The term “commissioning” is often used to generally describe such system programming, calibration, testing, and activation.
For the purposes of commissioning, it is often desirable to group certain fixtures together to be operated under a common group control protocol. To that end, it is necessary to program and control those individual fixtures to operate according to the selected group or system parameters.
Traditionally, commissioning might involve a pre-programming or pre-commissioning of each device, such as at a factory. Then, explicit instructions are provided to an installer, such as an electrician, regarding where each specific, pre-commissioned device should be located and grouped. As may be appreciated, such pre-programmed fixtures have to be individually selected for a specific location, and then installed properly at that location. This leads to installation errors and commissioning problems. As a result, quickly and accurately programming light fixtures within one or more groups is an industry-wide problem because of increased installation time and associated cost. Once installed, the fixtures also need to be associated with the proper group based on their physical location and other specific parameters, such as the direction they are facing, whether they are to be used for emergency lighting, etc.
In another scheme, bar codes have been employed to determine the fixture and then “pre-load” the configuration. This includes providing a location to an electrician responsible to place the fixture in the correct location. However, even with such precautions, the fixture may often be installed in the wrong location.
In still another commissioning technique, the fixtures might be installed first, and then the fixture individually or as part of a larger group is programmed or commissioned, once installed. However, generally such a task involves visually identifying the fixture, and then programming the fixture accordingly. It may often require two people to do such programming work. Also, such programming usually involves physical access and proximity to the fixture for engaging the fixture in a series of programming steps or sequences. As may be appreciated, certain installed fixtures may be at elevated locations and thus difficult to access. To address location issues, some systems have remote activation elements such as RF or optical remote controls. However, such devices, while offering convenience, may provide ways for the systems to be undesirably hacked and re-programmed as the fixtures are not selective with respect to the programming and control process. This can be a particularly problematic issue in today's environment of security breaches. Furthermore, it can be a particular issue if such lighting fixtures are used to illuminate secure areas or other areas where lighting is critical.
Accordingly, it is desirable to improve the overall commissioning process of systems or installations involving multiple elements, and particularly to improve the commissioning within lighting systems, including a plurality of fixtures or lighting elements. It is also desirable to ensure that improvement in the convenience of commissioning or programming a system does not lead security issues or undesired re-programming of such systems.